After school, Hanamichi has a run-in with Rukawa Kaede, who Haruko has a crush on. Hanamichi gets into a fight with him out of jealousy. Later, Hanamichi gets into a competition with the Shohoku basketball captain after he calls the sport ‘childish’.

Hanamichi pulls off some amazing defense and manages to steal the ball from Akagi. He also manages to successfully pull off a slam dunk against Akagi. After the challenge, he finds out that Akagi is actually Haruko’s brother.

Hanamichi decides to join the basketball club, which Akagi is against. Sakuragi tries to find a way to get on Akagi’s good side for Haruko’s sake. After Hanamichi shows his determination, Akagi lets him join the team and entrusts his basic training to the manager, Ayako.

5

“A Spiritless Afternoon”
“Konjō Nashi no Sabato” (根性なしの午後)

Hanamichi is tired of being made to do basic dribbling practice by himself. After Akagi refuses to let him practice with the rest of the team, Hanamichi gets into a fight with him and quits the club. He later regrets his actions and returns to the club.

Kogure remarks that Hanamichi is improving at an astonishing rate. Coach Anzai stops by to announce that they will be having a practice match against Ryonan High School soon. Anzai sets up a match, freshers vs. seniors, to measure the freshmen’s skills, but Akagi doesn’t let Hanamichi play. Rukawa pulls off some great moves, but isn’t able to score against Akagi.

After Rukawa is defeated by Akagi once, he reveals his true potential and makes a spectacular dunk. Hanamichi is allowed to play for the last two minutes of the game, and he demonstrates his skill at dribbling that he learned from Ayako. He refuses to cooperate with his teammate Rukawa, however and tries to make a slam dunk, but ends but smashing the ball into Akagi’s head instead.

Aota Tatsuhiko, captain of the Shohoku Judo Club and a childhood friend of Akagi and kim , decides that he wants Hanamichi in the Judo Club because of his innate talent. He tries to use pictures of Haruko as bait to lure Hanamichi into the Judo Club.

Aota continues to try and bribe Hanamichi into joining the Judo Club using Haruko’s photos. Hanamichi decides that he will take the pictures, but not join the Judo Club. The two get into a fight, and Hanamichi declares that he will not join the Judo Club as he is a basketball player

Akagi decides that it’s about time that Hanamichi learns how to shoot. He asks Rukawa to demonstrate a simple layup shot, but Hanamichi isn’t interested in learning from Rukawa. Inevitably, they get in a fight, and are banned from practice for the day.

After practicing the lay up shot with Haruko before school, Hanamichi finally makes it in. After a bit more practice late after school, he figures that he can make the shot roughly one in three times. A player from Ryonan named Hikouichi comes to investigate Shohoku while Hanamichi is attempting a dunk, mistaking him for Rukawa after admiring his jumping ability.

The faceoff between Shohoku and Ryonan begins. Hanamichi is crushed when it is revealed that he won’t be in the starting lineup, but soon relaxes when Anzai reassures him that he will become their “secret weapon”. Uozomi and Akagi begin their rivalry as captains.

The match starts off with Ryonan leading 19-0. Life returns to Shohoku after Rukawa gets the rebound and faces off with Sendo, passing the ball to Akagi for the dunk. Shohoku manages to catch up, ending the first half with a score of 42 to 50.

Ryota Miyagi returns to basketball after being injured in a fight. Ayako hears rumors that Miyagi was back in school, so she decides to investigate. She brings along Sakuragi and sees that Miyagi is into another fight realizing that Ayako and Sakuragi are together sparking jealously into his eyes which causes a problem. Will Miyagi and Sakuragi be able to coexist?

After Ayako was slapped by one of the invading students, Miyagi joined in the fight, as well as Rukawa. However, Tetsuo easily took both of them down. Sakuragi steps up to the plate, outnumbered. Things change when Sakuragi’s friends appear in an unlikely fashion.

Mitsui and Tetsuo were defeated, but Mitsui still continued to fight. Though when Akagi enters, the atmosphere becomes dense. Akagi slaps Mitsui around. Kogure then informs everyone that Mitsui use to be an excellent basketball player, and was even on the team. Kogure then proceeds to tell the rise and downfall of Mitsui’s basketball career.

26

“Mitsui, the Problems of the Past”
“Mitsui Jūgo-sai no Nayami” (三井寿15歳の悩み)

It seems that Mitsui was once a great basketball player himself before high school. Though something happened during practice that changed his life forever.

27

“I Want To Play Basketball!”
“Basuke ga Shitai desu!” (バスケがしたいです!)

After suffering through his horrible injury, Mitsui quit on basketball. Though two years later, in his attempt to sabotage Shohoku from participating in the tournament, his feelings for the sport are growing stronger once again.

Haruko decides to reward Sakuragi for his hard practicing by taking him to the festival. Sakuragi sees this as an opportunity to try to get with her, but the process became harder than he had expected.

96

“Basketball Shoes Part II”
“Basuketto shūzu II” (バスケットシューズII)

Sakuragi has been working hard for the past months to improve his basketball skills, but as a result, his shoes have torn. He visits none other than the man that gave him his first shoes.

97

“Mixed Feelings, Uozumi Returns”
(熱き思い·魚住再び!)

When a couple of Shoyo players decided to give their goodlucks to Shohoku, Sakuragi comes up with a suggestion; a game against Shoyo and Ryonan!

98

“Fierce Battle Begins! Shohoku vs. Shoyo/Ryonan”
(激闘開始! 湘北VS翔陽·陵南)

Rukawa garnered all the attention with his strong start to the game, but it was Sendoh who soon stole that spotlight when he entered the gym in his fishing clothes.

99

“Facing the Strongest Team, Shohoku in Danger!”
(湘北危うし! 脅威の最強軍団)

The combination team has become even more formidable by adding Sendoh and Fukuda to their lineup, and while Sakuragi is still struggling, Shohoku retains the lead.

100

“The Man of Miracles, Hanamichi Sakuragi!”
(奇跡の男·桜木花道!)

Fujima starts passing more and shooting less 3 pointers, giving hims teammates more open looks and easy opportunities to score. But is it enough to overcome Shohoku?